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#   Entered Union   Year Settled

13th       May 29, 1790      1636

 

Nickname

Ocean State

 

Rank      Population

43rd       1,050,788

 

Rank      Square Miles

50th       1,545

 

State Bird

Rhode Island Red Chicken

Northern Mockingbird (former state bird)

 

State Flower

Violet

 

State Tree

Red Maple

 

State Motto

Hope

 

Roger Williams and a group of religious followers founded the town of Providence in what is today known as Rhode Island after their banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Williams believed in the importance of liberty of conscience, which became an important principle in the founding of Rhode Island and ultimately in the founding of the United States.

 

Officially called "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," Rhode Island is one of the six New England states and one of the original 13 states of the Union, entering in 1790. It is the smallest state in area in the country. The capital is Providence.

 

The name "Rhode Island" is credited to Italian navigator Giovanni Verrazano who compared the nearby island Block Island to Rhodes in Greece. Later Williams thought that Verrazano had been referring to island where they had settled and began calling the island Rhode Island.

 

Samuel Slater of Rhode Island

Who was Samuel Slater and what is he famous for?

 

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Rhode Island became a pioneer in manufacturing in the United States. One of the individuals who played a big role in Rhode Island's economy was Samuel Slater.

 

Rhode Island was especially strong in textile manufacturing. The state, along with other parts of the Northeast, was part of the American Industrial Revolution, when the economy, which had been based on agriculture, became one based on machines and industries.

 

Slater established his first mill in 1790 on the Blackstone River in Rhode Island. It was one of the first factories in the United States. Three years later, in Pawtucket, he built Slater Mill, the first American factory to successfully produce cotton yarn with water-powered machines.

 

Other mills were established throughout Rhode Island and New England. By the first half of the 19th century, there were more than 100 mills in Rhode Island that employed thousands of men, women, and children. Factory owners liked to hire women and children because they could pay them lower wages than they paid men.

 

Gaspee Days

The Boston Tea Party, which took place on December 16, 1773, is the best known of the early protests by U.S. Colonists against British rule. But it actually followed another conflict that some people refer to as the "first real blow for freedom." Have you heard of it?

 

The incident occurred in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in June 1772, when American Colonists burned the British ship HMS Gaspee. The Americans were tired of the unfairness of King George III, who placed taxes on everything from glass to stamps to tea. King George had sent the Gaspee to Naragansett Bay to enforce his orders and prevent smuggling.

 

The HMS Gaspee. was under the command of Lieutenant William Dudingston, who required that all other ships lower their flags as a sign of respect to his ship. As a result, Dudingston was not well liked.

 

When the American vessel USS Hannah refused to lower its flag, the Gaspee chased it and the captain of the Hannah deliberately lured the Gaspee across shallow waters and left the British ship stranded on a sandbar, unable to move. Late that night, 64 Rhode Islanders rowed out to the Gaspee, boarded the ship, took the crew prisoners, shot Dudingston, and set the vessel on fire.

 

The citizens of Warwick, Rhode Island, celebrate this event every June. The events include a ball, a children's Colonial costume contest, Colonial dinners, and a staging, or re-enactment, of the event.

 

The Narragansett Indian Tribe

The Narragansett Indian Tribe lived in what is now known as Rhode Island, long before Europeans settled there. The Narragansett were made up of several sub-tribes, each with a chief (sachem). They survived by farming corn, hunting, and fishing.

 

Europeans first came into contact with the Indians of Rhode Island in 1524, when the explorer Giovanni de Verrazano visited Narragansett Bay. He described a large Indian population organized under powerful "kings." Europeans didn't settle this area until 1635.

 

The Narraganset and Europeans maintained good relations until King Philip's War in 1675-76. This war was the last major effort by the Indians of southern New England to drive out the English settlers who wanted more and more Indian land. But the Narragansett were completely defeated.

 

After the war, the remaining Narragansetts were forced to live on reservation lands, but by the end of the 18th century, the reservation lands had been drastically reduced. The state of Rhode Island "detribalized" the Narragansett during 1880-1884, which meant that they were no longer recognized as a tribe.

 

Over the years, the Narragansett tried to maintain their tribal customs and traditions, but it wasn't until the 1970s that they were able to reclaim part of their land and the 1980s before they received federal recognition as a tribe. It took decades, but the persistence of the Narragansett at getting back a part of what belonged to them finally paid off.